Why didnt we give the Sedins more on ice help?

[RobertKron]

i wonder if even having that one extra guy who could kill penalties and score goals, ie grabner, would have made a difference.

imagine grabner spends most of the year in and out of the lineup on the fourth line.

sedin sedin burrows
raymond kesler samuelsson
torres malhotra hansen
glass randos tambo/grabner

grabner's not going to score the 30 goals he got with new york but i think he's a guy you'd rather dress than tambo because he can PK. so over the year, less wear and tear on kesler and burrows.

then you go into the playoffs with

sedin sedin burrows
raymond kesler samuelsson
torres lapierre hansen
glass higgins grabner

AV probably still can't help himself and is going to overplay the top three lines and just give grabner PK duty, especially when samuelsson gets hurt and higgins moves up. but when raymond gets hurt, that's a legitimate NHL winger that can score goals. higgins/kesler/grabner looks infinitely better than tambellini/kesler/higgins right? could that swing one game out of four?

ok i need to stop doing this.

Grabner would have scored the 30 goals he got with New York, because he'd have been in New York after he was cut by the Canucks.

 

[Diamonddog01]

We were pretty much over the cap and had serious/done injuries to over half our top9 and virtually our entire top4 and still made it to game 7.

Should have invested non-cap $$$ in protective gear like what Tanev is wearing this year.

To this day I still clench my butt cheeks in a vain attempt to will time itself to reverse and have Manny not get injured. The trickle down to Kes and Henrik likely means they dont get as injured and voi-effin' -la.

Am I allowed to say that? Butt cheeks?

I think your efforts at time travel may have greater success if you pucker your bung hole instead of clenching your butt cheeks.

 

[I am toxic]

I think your efforts at time travel may have greater success if you pucker your bung hole instead of clench your butt cheeks.

Or both!

Heading to the toilet as we speak, just in case.

Can we say that? Toilet?

 

[StreetHawk]

I mean, the reality was...the Canucks drafted practically nothing at all of any value during that era. For a cap team doing LTIR gymnastics to fit everything in, those young players on cheap ELCs are where the reinforcements would've mostly had to come from. They just drafted almost exclusively bad players and busts that didn't pan out during those years.

Gillis did quite a bit in trades and Free Agency to bolster the lineup as best he could. But it was always limited by how badly the team drafted under his regime (and for some years before, inheriting a pretty bleak prospect pool). If the draft results aren't there, it's always going to be a struggle to build real sustainable depth underneath the salary cap.

Gillis did his heavy lifting in the off season.

don’t know what their cap flexibility was come tdl since they maxed out cap space when the season started.

hindsight being what it was with their draft picks, would have been a better use of them to use them as trade chips instead of selecting what they did with them and ultimately them not panning out.

 

[ProstheticConscience]

It's hilariously stupid that in year 6 of the Benning regime people are still trying to drag Gillis through the mud.

 

[PM]

The Sedins had plenty of help. We had the best team in the league in every category one year and were a strong contender for most of their prime. I love those two but anyone that watched us knew it wasn’t just them by a long shot. They almost always had a great Defense and goaltender behind them. Not to mention a prime Kesler and Burrows and solid vet support from Samuelsson, Demitra and Sundin.

Our 3rd checking lines were always amazing during their era too. They basically only had bad 4th lines but we did always seem to be one 2nd line forward away from a complete top6 due to injuries. I remember when we did the Booth trade everyone thought we won the league because we finally filled that hole. Obviously that did not happen. Regardless, anyone who watched those teams from their rookie year to retirement knows they were the leaders of an overall very good team.

The West Coast Express on the other hand... They carried us through those pre-Sedin years. We obviously had some other good players but they were so so critical.

 

[Peter10]

It's hilariously stupid that in year 6 of the Benning regime people are still trying to drag Gillis through the mud.

That's what happens when you have to fabricate excuses to justify the poor actions of the current management.

 

[ChilliBilly]

It really starts and ends with dismal drafting. Sedins were acquired originally by Brian Burke in what is now being hailed as the best draft-day move in history. Kesler and Luongo were drafted or acquired by other regimes. In fact, Gillis basically walked into a stacked situation--the equivalent of an NHL just opening the gate for a lot of talented players.

Having said that, let's face it....if the Canucks had made just one draft change in 2005, the Sedins would have won their Cup. Instead of the late Luc Bourdon, Anze Kopitar would have been a better choice.

No, in fact if Luc Bourdon hadn't died, I think we likely win the cup as well. He was exactly what we needed.

 

[StreetHawk]

It's hilariously stupid that in year 6 of the Benning regime people are still trying to drag Gillis through the mud.

Since this was Sedin week and the thing people sadly say is that too bad they didn’t win a cup you look back at their prime years and wonder what if.

what if they added the equivalent of a Kris Kreider to one of those years by giving up first round picks that ultimately did not pan out for the team.

It’s a legit hindsight too bad they didn’t push more of their chips in with that roster.

This roster doesn’t deserve to have chips pushed in.

 

[ProstheticConscience]

Since this was Sedin week and the thing people sadly say is that too bad they didn’t win a cup you look back at their prime years and wonder what if.

what if they added the equivalent of a Kris Kreider to one of those years by giving up first round picks that ultimately did not pan out for the team.

It’s a legit hindsight too bad they didn’t push more of their chips in with that roster.

This roster doesn’t deserve to have chips pushed in.

The 2011 Canucks team won the President's Trophy 10 points clear of the 2nd place team, they had both the highest GF and lowest GA in the NHL, the best power play, the third best penalty kill, the Art Ross winner on the first line, the Selke winner on the 2nd line, they added Higgins and Lapierre at the deadline, and they only had the personnel they did because they played a shell game of players on and off of LTIR to fit everyone under the salary cap.

Every single chip that could be pushed in was pushed in.

 

[StreetHawk]

The 2011 Canucks team won the President's Trophy 10 points clear of the 2nd place team, they had both the highest GF and lowest GA in the NHL, the best power play, the third best penalty kill, the Art Ross winner on the first line, the Selke winner on the 2nd line, they added Higgins and Lapierre at the deadline, and they only had the personnel they did because they played a shell game of players on and off of LTIR to fit everyone under the salary cap.

Every single chip that could be pushed in was pushed in.

I think the one area where they could have used an upgrade was improving on Raymond to drop him out of the 2nd line. But like you said that team was so tight to the cap.

 

[I am toxic]

The 2011 Canucks team won the President's Trophy 10 points clear of the 2nd place team, they had both the highest GF and lowest GA in the NHL, the best power play, the third best penalty kill, the Art Ross winner on the first line, the Selke winner on the 2nd line, they added Higgins and Lapierre at the deadline, and they only had the personnel they did because they played a shell game of players on and off of LTIR to fit everyone under the salary cap.

Every single chip that could be pushed in was pushed in.

Exactly.

Eff me, the chips were spilling off the effin' table, there couldn't be any more effin' chips.

Are we allowed to say that unfiltered? Chips? (you know what I'm referring to)

 

[Bourne Endeavor]

I recall Gillis being quite disliked by other GMs, which may attribute to why we were often mentioned it trade rumours but little ever came of them. It wouldn't entirely surprise him given Gillis always gave across as a very pragmatic guy. That can get you into trouble if you aren't careful.

 

[DS7]

I recall Gillis being quite disliked by other GMs, which may attribute to why we were often mentioned it trade rumours but little ever came of them. It wouldn't entirely surprise him given Gillis always gave across as a very pragmatic guy. That can get you into trouble if you aren't careful.

And yet the GMs voted him best GM in 2011. It's just mystifying. But yeah he was hamstrung with his lack of rapport and relationships with his fellow GMs in trades. Must be his background as an agent.

I'll give Benning this over Gillis. He's more willing to do those all in moves and gambles. Gillis was perhaps a little too safe during the cup window, and became aggressive too late after it was evident 2011 broke the core.